ozziepost

9 hours ago, JJK2008 said:

We hope to use every minute of our time in OZ. This is my first time, but my DW has been there before. Neither of us has been to New Zealand. My DW is hard at work planning our trip. Truly, she is better than any travel agent could be. Flight time for us will be about 24 hours. So, including stops, layovers, to/from airport that is a Loooong travel time. We're going to break-up the trip with stops in Hawaii for a few days in each direction. We will land in Sydney and spend several days seeing the sights. Next, we fly to the Gold Coast and spend time in the Surfers Paradise area. We have friends who live here and will visit with them if all goes well. From here we plan to rent a car and drive along the coast to the Sunshine Coast, with a stop in Brisbane. Eventually arriving in Mooloolaba. We have friends here and will visit with them. We'll go back to Brisbane drop the car off and fly to Cairns. Rent another car and spend some time seeing Cairns. Then head to Port Douglas for all the tourist stuff. After we've had our fill it's back to Cairns drop off the rental car and fly to Sydney. That will be November 1, 2023. Our cruise leaves from Sydney on November 2nd. Thats 2 weeks around New Zealand. At the end of the cruise, we're back in Sydney. Next up, we fly to Melbourne, rent a car and spend several days here. We do have friends here as well. Hit the road towards Port Cambell stopping along the way. Then it's a long drive eventually ending up in Adelaide. Do more tourist stuff. Drop the car off and fly back to Sydney, then back to Hawaii for several more days, then home. In all the trip will be 8 weeks. Once in a lifetime. So, any suggestions people have on our course of action, Please chime in. Thanks, in advance. Stay Safe & Healthy all.

 

John

Log on to the Australian forum of Trip Advisor and you will get plenty of sensible advice from the friendly mob there.  Enjoy planning your trip. 🤠

We've been to the Isle de Pines a number of times. On one visit we did a ship tour that did a loop of the island and into the main town which I think was called Vao. The island itself is a gorgeous place with good swimming and snorkeling especially near the "Sacred Rock" and one I'd happily visit any time.

On one eventful trip on a P&O ship that has probably been turned into engine blocks for Subaru or razor blades. We couldn't get into Port Vila harbor due to unsafe conditions in the harbor itself.

We had a ship load of stroppy passengers who were really peed off at not being able to get their cheap grog from Fung Kuei in Vila. Our attitude was that the safety of the ship comes first regardless of what the inconvenience is, we just bought our duty free on the ship, while the variety wasn't all that great the price was good.

A bonus was that they sent us down to the Isle di Pins which wasn't on the original itinerary due to missing out on Port Vila.

On 2/20/2023 at 7:56 PM, cheznandy said:

Pacific Adventure is ex Golden Princess, Grand class, Pacific Explorer is ex Dawn Princess Sun Class, very different ships.

Apologies I did get the two ships mixed up. It was the Pac Explorer thar our daughter and hubby did their cruise on. I have sailed on the Pac Adventure when she was the Golden Princess as well as the ex-Dawn Princess.  I'd be happy to do a cruise on either ship under the P&O flag.

Hi, the Pac Adventure is the former Dawn Princess. Daughter and sil did a new year's cruise to NZ and had a great time to the extent that they have booked another cruise with P&O for later this year. We did many cruises on the Dawn and would have no hesitation of doing another to see what she is like as the Pac Adventure.

Ginger is my choice you used to be able to get ginger jubes from woollies or crystallized ginger works fine as well. On one trip crossing the ditch on the way back to Melbourne on old aunty Dawn it got a bit messy, mind you they had a French night that night with frog legs and snails on the menu. There were passengers chucking up left right and center, us we got stuck into the ginger and although we felt just a touch a queasy, we were fine. We always carry a bag or two whenever we cruise. 🤠

I did that shore ex once although I found both Larnach Castle and Olveston house interesting I wouldn't do it again as I found the tour poor value for what we paid, that's just my opinion.

I don't mind Noumea and have always looked forward to visiting that port. A favorite thing we like to do is catch a bus around to Lemon Bay beach for a swim and if time allows having a wander around Coconut Square before going back on board.

Hi when having a night or two in Sydney pre or post cruise we stay at the Great Southern in George St (breakfast is available) and catch the airport train to Central which is about 10-minute walk from the hotel. To get to the OPT from there you can either catch the light rail which runs down George St to CQ or a train from Central we have walked down to CQ but it's a bit of a hike as indicated in the previous post there is plenty of accommodation close to Circular Quay. FWIW airport shuttles in Sydney don't have a good reputation best way to get into the city from the airport is either the airport train or cab.

Hi on our last trip to PC we caught the bus/shuttle into Dunedin and just wandered around the town and noticed there was an organ recital being done at the local Anglican Cathedral for cruise ship passengers which we thoroughly enjoyed. When we got back to port we filled in time visiting the local mission to seafarers and the museum and taking in the sights until it was time to go back on board. 

It's a very pleasant port to visit.

Never use anything else other than the official government websites. There are numerous threads on TA with complaints about 3rd party websites offering to do Visa applications for you for a fee.

Hi we had planned to do something similar on a Carnival cruise we did in 2015 just after a very nasty cyclone hit Vanuatu. Over a space of a few months we collated a supply of various school materials. When checking in at Avalon to catch our flight to Sydney our bags were over weight due to the school supplies we had packed and Jetstar wanted to charge us extra for these until we explained what the items were for with the result they waived the excess weight charge.

Our trip on the Carnival Spirit had to be changed on the run with a couple of ports being omitted and substituted by a couple of others due to the damage caused by the cyclone which on some of the islands was quite extensive. Once on board we had a chat to reception and told them what our plans were. Because of issues with Vanuatu customs duties etc they advised us to list the items we had and when we were ready hand them to reception who would make sure they got delivered to the schools who needed them most, which we did on the understanding that if there were any issues with customs duties etc they would let us know. After we gave the items to reception we didn't hear anything more and assumed that they were delivered to a school that needed them.

From what I understand there were quite a few passengers on that trip who had similar intentions and in the end it was much easier to let the ship deliver the items as they apparently had the necessary contacts to do so rather than try and find a school and attempt to deliver the items ourselves.

I think that what you are doing is a wonderful gesture by all means pack some supplies and once you go on board have a chat to the staff at reception and be guided by the advice they give you.

in October 2019 we did a 14 night round trip to Fiji on the Majestic Princess from Sydney there were a few passengers from Geelong on board including one of the guest entertainers Andy Pobjoy who we knew,  I am grateful  it was one of the happiest cruises we have done.

We had booked two cruises in 2020 one a QLD coastal from Sydney on the Sun Princess which was cancelled about 2 weeks from sailing and another on the Sapphire the southern explorer from Fremantle to Sydney which didn't get past the deposit stage.

Sadly our cruising days are over although I'm keen to do a short trip over to the Apple Isle when the SPOT is based in Geelong perhaps in 2023.

Probably the roughest trip we had was on the old Pac Pearl (then Columbus and now Gillette razor blades) on a 12 nighter pacific cruise. Soon after leaving Wala we ran into a force nine gale we had a window cabin on deck 9 and had water coming past our window. It was that rough the guys flogging the art auctions gave up and we didn't see them again. We couldn't get into Vila because it was to risky to take the ship into the port so they bummed around outside (a few of the passengers were really dark on this because that's where the cheap grog is) while they worked out what to do. Mystery island was taken off the itinerary due to the bad weather and took us down to the Isle de Pins which was a bonus.

To cap the trip off the thing broke down outside Sydney Harbor and had to be towed into port with the result we didn't come alongside at Barangaroo until about 10.30 am and then as we were coming alongside one of the mooring lines dislodged a plank off the wharf and they had to push the stern out while they recovered the plank. A lot of passengers who had booked early flights missed them. The master on that trip was a blonde female now I've got nothing against blondes but I can tell you by the time we reached Sydney her hair had turned grey. It was an eventful trip and one I still have a chuckle when I think about it.

Re my earlier post about the Pacific Sun for those who like some heavy reading the link below contains the full report about the incident the Pacific Sun was involved in 30 July 2008. I found the report  quite interesting.

 Pacific Sun Report No 14/2009 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

We did our second cruise in 2010 on the Pac Sun if I had seen the following video of the Pac Sun in a storm on the 30th July 2008 before we sailed  I wonder if we set foot on board the ship. Interestingly if you do a Google search you can find the full report of the incident from Marine Accident Investigation Branch UK which makes sobering reading as P&O came close to losing the ship.

The trip we did on the Sun was a fourteen night one to Fiji and was the one that got us hooked on cruising.

On 12/30/2021 at 8:20 AM, By The Bay said:

Any chance you could post some photo's? Thanks.

We are moving to Geelong! (spiritoftasmania.com.au) this link might interest you the only photo I have is when the red and white boat visited CQ north in Sept 2020 about the time the announcement was made. CQ south is to the right of the SPOT where the large red and white tender is berthed.

On 12/21/2021 at 8:16 AM, getting older slowly said:

Passports needed for Tassie ???   well some years ago   the BH needed her Passport to fly to King Island on Rex.... as that was was you only photo ID she had     LOL....

 

Had flown with King Island fly a few time....   no ID needed    very causal.... but really don't like little planes......

 

On the Red and White Boat ... starting to wonder if is will be at Corio before we get there

 

noting Masks  an now to be worn indoors in Tassie now

 

Don with second coffee

 

I went past Corio Quay the other day to check what is happening. The have started work on the wharf and I expect things to ramp up early in the new year current expectations are that the SPOT will be operating out of Corio Quay by the end of 2022. A new state of the art terminal will be built with access roads to the terminal being up graded this project interests me and I intend keeping an eye on the progress of the works being done.

7 hours ago, Docker123 said:

Now that we are allowed on the red and white boat, you could take it with you as part of an “overseas” cruise

 

That red and white boat will have a new home at Corio Quay south next year. That will be our next o/s cruise will be taking the car with us so that we can spend a couple of weeks leisurely exploring the Apple isle hopefully a day time trip a sort of a pretend sea day!!!

When in Sydney to do a cruise we always stay at the Great Southern in George St. Its clean and comfortable and reasonably priced plus the pub grub is good value. The last time we stayed there was in October 2019 when we did our 14 night Fiji cruise on the Majestic which incidentally was probably our last cruise (sigh)

Our last cruise was a 14 night one to Fiji in 2019 on the Majestic  it was one of the happiest cruises we have done and one we have fond memories of. Little did we know at the time despite booking 2 cruises in 2020 which were cancelled due to Covid19 it was the last cruise we are likely to do (BIG sigh).

When we visit Sydney we stay at the Great Southern in George St. Its an old style pub that is close to Central. The rooms are clean and comfortable and reasonably priced the restaurant serves good pub grub with generous serves that are good value. Darling harbor and Barangaroo are within walking distance and we have often walked to CQ from there. Would be worth having a look at.

Hi I'm just wondering if your printer settings were out of wack? If your application was printed correctly there shouldn't have been any problems with your application. In another life I was involved in processing Passport applications with Post right from the time Post got involved in processing passports and that would have been back in the early 80's until I expired just a few years back. IME AP staff especially those in corporate retail offices are highly trained and know what they are doing.

We had our passports renewed only a couple of years ago printed out the application and got our photos done at the same time we lodged the applications at our local PO it was easy as and we got our passports back within a couple of weeks.

As Ozkiwi has mentioned if you weren't happy with the person you lodged your application with try another office.

Just a thought.

Yep that's good deal. The SPOT is going to relocate to Geelong next year will be plotting and scheming to spend around a couple of weeks in Tassie in 2022 I reckon if I plan it right it will be a good trip. Lets hope Covid behaves itself.

Interesting comments about Insure and Go which I have only used once or twice. I took out a policy with Australia Post TI in December last year for our April cruise . When Princess cancelled the cruise on the Sun Princess I cancelled the insurance policy and got a pro rata refund of 75% back which is stated in their PDS. The refund took a few weeks before it appeared in my bank account. Low and be hold I got an email from AP TI a few months back stating that because the trip was cancelled as a result of Covid I was entitled to a refund of the balance of the premium I had paid  (25%) and requesting bank account details which I provided after checking with their call centre in case it was a scam. Although the refund took a bit to come through I was quite pleased when the amount appeared on my bank statement.

I have used AP TI for most of our trips and IF we are able to do another I won't hesitate to use them again for travel insurance.